CWG: England upset Australia to hit 10 swim golds

By PTI |Posted 30-Jul-2014

Glasgow: England closed their Commonwealth Games swimming meet with 10 gold medals after inflicting Australia's first Commonwealth relay defeat in eight years in the men's 4x100m medley relay. There was another significant victory for England over Australia on Tuesday as 19-year-old sensation Ben Proud claimed his second gold of the Games by beating star duo Cameron McEvoy and James Magnussen in the men's 50m freestyle.

However, Australia still recorded their most successful ever meet at a Commonwealth Games as they won 57 medals to surpass their previous record tally of 54 from the Melbourne Games in 2006. A stunning final leg from 100m freestyle world champion Cate Campbell handed the Aussie women 4x100m medley relay gold after Daniel Tranter won the men's 200m individual medley to take Australia's final gold medal tally to 19.

The final race of the meet belonged to England, though, as the team of Chris Walker-Hebborn, Adam Peaty, Adam Barrett and Adam Brown came home in a Games record time of 3min 31:51sec to become the first English team to beat Australia in the 4x100 medley relay for 64 years. Brown jumped in for the final leg with a comfortable lead, but was very nearly caught as world 100m freestyle champion James Magnussen swam a sensational final leg for Australia.

"I knew I was going against the fastest guy in the world right now in Magnussen so I just dug in deep that last 50 and luckily held on to get the win for these guys," said Brown. England very nearly caused a similar upset in the women's 4x100m medley relay as they led at the 300m mark, but Campbell did enough to seal gold in the final leg in an overall time of 3min 56:23sec.

"I honestly could not have asked for anything more," said Campbell, who won three gold medals in all in Glasgow. "I have exceeded my expectations and I feel like I have done Australia proud, which is one of the goals I had coming into the competition." Proud had already won the 50m butterfly earlier in the week and backed up that success by touching the wall first in a time of 21:92sec.

McEvoy had to settle for his third individual silver medal of the meet, whilst Magnussen added to his 100m freestyle gold with his first international 50m medal. Australia's first gold medal of the night came from Tranter as he stormed to victory in the men's 200m individual medley in a new Games record time of 1min 57:72sec. Scotland's Dan Wallace delighted the home crowd as he walked onto poolside in a kilt and proceeded to add silver to his 400m individual medley gold.

Olympic champion Chad le Clos took his medal tally for the event to seven as he sealed bronze to go with South Africa's bronze in the medley relay. Le Clos also took gold in the 100m and 200m butterfly, silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay and bronze in the 50m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay. "It's been a great week for me," said the 22-year-old.

"We gave everyone a run for their money and proved to the rest of the world South Africa can be a force to be reckoned with." Georgia Davies became the second Welsh female swimmer to win gold at the Games in as many days, following Jazz Carlin's success in the 800m freestyle, as she won the 50m backstroke in a Commonwealth Games record time of 27:56sec.

Lauren Quigley of England was just 0:13sec behind in second as Brooklyn Snodgrass added bronze for Canada. However, Carlin had to settle for silver on Tuesday in the women's 400m freestyle as New Zealand's Lauren Boyle gained revenge for being beaten into second place in the 800m freestyle with Australia's Bronte Barratt in third.

A fine night for Wales was rounded off by a third medal as Daniel Jervis took bronze in the men's 1500m freestyle. Ryan Cochrane of Canada sealed his second gold of the Games with Mack Horton picking up silver for Australia. And it was also a great night for New Zealand as Sophie Pascoe claimed her second gold of the Games in the women's para-sport 200m individual medley SM10 ahead Australia's Katherine Downie and Canada's Aurelie Rivard.